Analysis Of A Valediction Forbidding Mourning By John Donne

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Love comes in many forms and is shown differently by almost everyone, thus making it nearly impossible to pinpoint whether or not a couple’s love is true. In the past, poets used the theme of love and made personal views on affection through their work to argue their opinions on the topic of love. In the poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” John Donne argues that having a physically intimate relationship means that the love between two people is shallow, however I disagree and feel that a couple can be affectionate while also maintaining a strong, spiritual connection. It is healthy to have a physical connection in order to have a successful relationship. There are many reasons to support this idea. For example, the foundation and backbone …show more content…
This journey provided numerous opportunities and experiences for Donne, but in order to go on the trip he had to leave behind his wife, Anne, and their twelve kids for the time being. Donne, who claimed to be madly in love with Anne, wrote a farewell poem to his wife. In the famous poem, “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” Donne argues that their love is real because it is spiritual. Although his idea may be correct, he continues validating this by stating that the physical connection people have for each other is not real and it is shallow. Donne argues that a physical love for someone is unstable and can misrepresent a relationship when saying, “Dull sublunary lovers’ love (whose soul is sense) cannot admit absence, because it doth remove those things which elemented it” (Donne). In the previous stanza, Donne says that love built on a physical connection cannot withstand separation and is therefore weaker than spiritual love. John Donne also argued in this poem that being publically affectionate about his love to his wife would negatively affect them, as well as invalidate it in the eyes of their peers’ due to society’s standards. In stanzas seven and eight, he suggests that he desires a quiet parting because of “the laity people” his love would be broadcasted to if he publically said goodbye. During this time period, publically displaying affection was a taboo whereas spiritual love was more meaningful. Even though physical affection in public was frowned upon by society’s standards, it does not mean that an intimate connection was not necessary or common between a

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